REALiTY
by Kyra Wolf
Summary: NiGHTS falls into reality, and found by the ever-moody Steph. Together they have to take on any dream baddies Wizeman sends their way, but with NiGHTS being as mischievous as he is, Steph is going to have her hands full keeping him hidden!
1. Before the Fanfic Begins

Hello all my readers!

You might be wondering, "Kyra, what the hell are you doing not updating in over a year, and leaving us few devoted fans wondering what happened and where were you and why is the sky blue, and srsly, why are you re-doing it? AND WHERE THE HELL IS REALA?!"

_**Question one:**_ I lost interest in NiGHTS – the new sequel that came out totally raped it for me. That's right, I cannot STAND that sequel. Sorry folks; I think Sega should have done a lot better.

_**Question two:**_ I don't think I dropped off at a cliffhanger… yet.

_**Question three:**_ I was at marching band stuff, and high school suddenly got about 60 xs harder than what it was and I've been sick, and busy, and working to get myself a Wii. Before you haters start beating me, I played Journey of Dreams at my friend's house, so I'm not judging that game on how it looks.

_**Question Four:**_ The sky is blue because of vapor and reflection from water droplets and the ocean.

_**Question Five:**_ I'm re-doing REALiTY because I wrote what I have a year ago. I can restart, and write better than what I have. Make it more enjoyable, give myself more attitude (What?! You didn't know Steph was me? I'M INSULTED.) And overall, improve the quality of the writing. Bear with me.

_**Question Six:**_ Reala will be in here. What's NiGHTS without the Reala? It's like a Reese's peanut Butter cup without the annoying paper. It's always gunna be there whether you like it or not.

So, anyway! Thanks for being patient and stuff. Now for the credits so I don't have to write them… again.

_The characters in the story are © to their rightful and respective owners._

If you seem pissed that NiGHTS is portrayed as male, because JoD had a female voice actor, I don't care. No elements from that sequel will be found in this story. Sorry JoD lovers, it's not happening. Besides, he's genderless, so no one really cares.

This was written to make you NiGHTS fans amused. I am not trying to insult anyone, any character in anyway. The only one I'm constantly harassing and poking fun at is Steph, who is me, so, like, it doesn't matter unless I start flaming myself which would be odd.

GOOD!! Now that that's all done, said and out of the way, go read my madness!


	2. Okay, THIS Isn't Normal!

**I**scratched my nose, watching the last few minutes of French class snail by. Monsieur Grisetto was saying something, but I wasn't really paying attention. It was Thursday, and it was raining outside. Hard. I groaned, knowing that I had to walk home in this. Damn, I hate the rain.

I looked up only to see Mr. Grisetto staring at me. "Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?" He asked me. I blinked, the French not registering into my brain like it should have. Shaking my head to knock myself out of my stupor, I looked at him. "Come again?"

"Qu'est-ce qui ne-" he stopped, sighed and asked in my native language, "what's wrong?"

"Oh." I knew what that meant in French. Ha-ha, I had a brain fart.

"Nothing. Just waiting."  
"Waiting? For what?"

Just then the bell rang. "That." I responded. I jumped up and ran out of the classroom. Okay, so, today, I couldn't focus. I was hungry, and if class went on any longer, my hoodie wouldn't have sleeves anymore – they would be in my mouth.

Fighting the crowd, I finally got to my locker. I dialed in the combination and opened it up to reveal the 'lovely' interior. There were some curses written in sharpie and something that looked like 'Mike's Mom is a Whore', but the worst of it was covered up by my own crap - A Weighted Companion Cube picture, a picture of cake, and some other crud. It was better I looked at that stuff than the graffiti.

I shoved my books into my book bag pell-mell, and dawned my long, black with buckles and straps, Tripp trench coat. I loved it to death, but everyone else poked fun at it. They're just jealous because… well, I don't know why. They were just jealous.

Waiting till the hall cleared out a bit; I sighed and started walking out of the tiny hallways of lockers and into the main school hallway, heading for the doors. Digging around for my beloved MP3 player, I felt a hand mess up my already tangled mane of hair. I looked up and saw my friend Amber, grinning.

"Keep walking girly, or I'm going to bite you shoulder." I threatened, baring my teeth like a vampire playfully. Amber just rolled her eyes. She became immune to my bite threat, and the biting itself. Oh, don't act like you never bit your friends on the shoulder.

"Are you looking for this?" She held up my Sansa.

"When- where- ?!" I sputtered, snatching my media player.

"I borrowed it, remember?"

Oh. Yeah. She did.

"You're so forgetful!" She teased me. I made my teeth bear themselves once again, making sure to wrinkle my nose too. "Anyway, I gotta catch the bus! Have fun walking!" And before I could attack her sides with my tickling fingers, she danced out the door.

I scuffed the ground with the tip of my black boot. Right, I had to walk home in the rain. Damnit, I HATE walking in the rain. I used to love it, but now I don't. It's gotta be a puberty thing or something. So, popping the ear buds into my ears, and flipping back my long blond hair, I went outside into the wet, wet world.

I speed-walked down the sidewalk, making twisted faces at the people in the buses who were pointing and laughing. Today just sucked. There was no other way to put that, seriously. I turned and faced the large hill I had to climb everyday to get to my house. By now, it was probably slick from the cascading rain.

With a quick breathe of air, I started running up the hill, the rain hitting my already wet face. As soon as I got to the top, I felt like I was going to die. After many years of walking up the stupid thing, you would have thought that I'd be used to it by now. Ha-ha, no.

After regaining my breath, I started walking again when it happened. The world suddenly fell silent, and the raindrops froze. I tried to move to grab one, but I realized I couldn't move myself. _What the hell?!_ I thought to myself. _This isn't normal!_ I kept struggling, trying to move, but I was getting nowhere fast.

The sound of what sounded like something large and made out of glass shattering caught my attention, and I would have been surprised if it didn't. The world, being so quiet, that noise sounded like a cannon went off beside me. I was sure my ears were bleeding.

Then, with a silent horror, I saw something falling from the sky. It rocketed toward the ground, near where I was!_ Ah, holy shit! It's the end of the world!!_ I thought crazily and hectically. This stuff falling from the sky wasn't normal either, so why not? Ragnarok sounded good right now; at least I wouldn't have to walk home in the rain.

All I remember was watching the thing fall to Earth, a flash of blinding light and then darkness.

I tasted mud. When I opened my eyes, I figured out why; I was laying down, face first on the grass, feeling a little weak and defiantly numb in some places, the rain gently pattering down on my back. After making sure I had all ten fingers and wiggling all my toes, I figured I was okay. '_The hell just happened?!_ I thought to myself angrily. _Am I going delirious?!_

I pushed myself off the ground, rubbing as much muck off my lovely coat as I could and started walking home again. Whatever just happened, it caused my coat to become soiled. I was probably going to rant to Autumn or Evan or Janelle, or SOMEONE.

Too lost in my thoughts, I was taken by surprise when I felt wind whipping my face and seeing the ground racing toward me.

I tasted mud. Again.

I pushed myself up, angrier than before and even angrier when I heard 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' floating out of my earphones. Grumbling and saying stuff that would make my mother's hair curl, I pushed myself back up. _What did I trip over anyway? _You don't just FALL, okay?

I turned around and saw something purple lying in the grass. I bent down to examine it, only to leap backwards cat-like and land on my ass shrieking and arms flailing. _A BODY! OH MY GOD! A BODY!! IT'S DEAD! I FOUND A MURDER SCENE!_

I calmed down and started breathing normally when I noticed the body was breathing. Whoever it was, it looked like they were unconscious or sleeping. I immediately started feeling very stupid for the way I was acting. Look, you don't find a body on the ground in a yard everyday; sometimes you just got to expect the worst.

Debating to leave the body here or not, I decided I better make sure she was okay. I crept toward her, my crawling hands finding a stick. I picked it up, arming myself. I reached out and poked the puffy white sleeve hard with my wooden protector. She didn't move.

I got up, and like a sane person would have done a lot sooner than I have, looked over whom we had here. "Oh." I told myself. "It's just a purple jester." I picked up my bag and started walking when I froze. _Wait_, I asked myself mentally, _what the hell is she doing unconscious in a joker costume on someone's lawn in the rain?!_ Even I knew that wasn't right. I ran back and rolled the girl onto her back, and I recoiled again, but not as violently the first time.

She was covered in mud, of course, but she was streaked with bleeding gashes across her arms and mostly her torso. A heavily oozing cut under her eye caught my attention, and then so did her eyes. Closed or not, they were HUGE. They would have even been big on a horse! _Okay_, I thought, _so this girl has some deformations and shit going on; I'm still helping her_. From the torn clothing, gashes, and the unconsciousness, the first thing that came to my mind was a possible rape victim, but I decided against it.

_I better take her home._ I thought. I bent down to pick her up and drag her back to my home, which was a few minutes down the street, when I realized that this girl was clearly over six feet tail. I grimaced, being only five foot, seven. _God damnit._

I grappled the girl's one arm and tugged, nearly falling over backwards. For being six feet tall, she weighed about as much as a cat.

No, I think my cat weighed **more**.

I went to throw one of her arms around my neck and support-carry her back, but this weight thing changed everything. I grabbed her arm tighter and flipped her body over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and quickly walked home. I noticed that her clothing, whatever is was, was smooth and didn't seem to have any seams… and it was skin tight. I snorted trodding through the rain. She probably was a hootchie or something to wear clothing that tight in public. The hat totally clashed though. It was out of place if she was pretending to be a skanky jester, because all it did was look biggish and detracting.

Walking up the back stairs of my house, I unlocked the back door with difficulty, and walked inside. Thank God my mother doesn't come home until two hours from now. This would be hard to explain, but my dad should be upstairs sleeping. I'd just put this poor soul on my bed and wake him up and explain to him what happened. He works nightshift as a nurse, and nurses know how to treat people with injuries so why the hell not?

Making my way up the stairs, I heard the beep on the answering machine. I pressed it, listening in to the message. "Steph," my dad's voice said, "I'm going down to Jimmy's for a bit. I called off sick because I want to spend some time with my bud, because you know I hardly get to see him anymore. Love you pumpkin!"

Well, my plan is working like a charm, isn't it?

I trudged up my stairs in my soaking wet attire and the unconscious person flopping uselessly around on my back. I turned the corner and pushed apart the hippy-like door beads I had hanging to reveal my entirely purple room. I hoped I'd be able to find this chick if I put her down for a second, and hopefully she wouldn't blend in.

I carefully laid her down on my bed, noting that I had to wash my bedclothes anyway. Now that the haze of the rain wasn't distracting my eyes from her details, I was able to see her better. She was insanely skinny. _Probably anorexic or some crap._ I thought bitterly. She was also flat-chested, which is something I noticed with glee. Okay, so my breasts aren't big, alright? Don't rub it in; as least I had boob-seniority over this skank here. Her feet and legs were shaped oddly too. She was normal till the knee. Then her legs seemed to get larger and go straight into her feet. How odd. Then a peculiar detail caught my eye.

This person lacked a neck and wrists. **Completely**. There was nothing here. No tissue or muscles or skin or anything! Nothing! I shook my head, and thought to myself, _it's just a trick for the costume_. Remembering there were some wounds to dress, I stripped off my coat and hung it up on the back of my door, as I ran, still in my wet clothing, to the bathroom to get a washcloth and some Neosporin or something.

I came back into my room and sat down on the edge of my bed, carefully cleaning and disinfecting each wound. As I worked, I started feeling more and more sympathetic towards this girl. Maybe she was at a costume party and really was raped… or maybe she was mugged or something. All I knew was that I never saw her in my life before, and rumors would have flown around the small city of Nanticoke if anyone knew this wild child.

I turned around and grabbed the box of band-aids on my dresser to dress the cuts, and I only looked away for a second. When I looked back, I dropped the box on my bed dumbly. I KNOW I saw her costume and skin cut up and ruined. Now she just lay there, all holes and cuts gone like they never happened.

I looked at my Neosporin in awe. I read the text below the brand name: Faster Healing Guaranteed! _Um… holy shit, I'm keeping this tube._

But that didn't explain the clothes thing. I didn't fix them and I KNEW there were holes in it! I grabbed her hand to pull her arm closer for inspection when I stopped. Rubbing her hand a bit, I realized how soft her skin was. I just sat there and rubbed my thumb in circles on the top of her hand in awe. There was no annoying body hair or anything on it; her fingers were long and thin with few creases in it and perfect looking nails. It was like petting glass, that smoothness, but the softness was totally of velvet. Such an odd feeling! This girl couldn't be for real!

I jumped a bit when the girl moaned, and I saw the closed eyelids twitch. My eyes now focused on her closed ones, I observed the flirty and unnaturally long eyelashes. Stranger yet.

I then realized I was holding a dirty red washcloth, which was once white by the way, and I threw it into my laundry basket, not wanting to look like I beat her to death with a damp towel in my room, and I smiled slightly as her eyes opened, revealing the loveliest shade of purple I have ever seen. Then, she opened her mouth, and I waited to hear her voice, which probably sounded like crystal bells, say something.

She spoke two words in a strange, deep voice, "What happened?"

I felt my jaw hit the ground, as I was mentally slapped in the face. _OH MY GOD! SHE'S A HE!_


	3. An Explanation I think?

Okay, so after I recovered from the gender-bending shock that I just received, which took nearly a whole minute of just silent gaping, I tried to ask him a question. "Wh-Who-?" I started, and suddenly blurted out, "WHAT are you!?" Immediately, I covered my mouth with my hands; that was downright rude of me. I checked to make sure my bedroom door was open… yeah. At least I can escape if he tried to rape me or steal my soul. You know, whatever came first.

Immediately, he started to yell something… well, okay, it wasn't yelling, but he was projecting his voice, and holy SHIT, when I say project, I mean, **PROJECT**. I thought my windows were going to rattle right out of the frames. I didn't really catch what he said only for a few words, such as 'how' and 'Wiseman' and something about a Relala or something. It took him a second, but he realized he was talking to no one and staring at my not-on TV and fell silent. Me? I was backed against the wall – I seriously didn't know what to do! Was there anything in my room like a bat? Maybe I can knock him out and place him back on that lawn.

He stared for a couple more seconds, his mouth slightly open. If it wasn't for the fact he looked really stupid and also the fact he could probably beat the living daylights out of me, I would have thought he looked cute… you know, kitten-cute. Then he turned at me, "Where is Wizeman? And Reala? They were right in front of me! And who are you anyway? Are you a mepian?"

I just sort of gaped at him; he said that all really fast and it didn't click within my mind till a few seconds of silence. Wizey-man… Reela…? I pointed at myself. Honestly, I was confused, and what on EARTH is a mepian? Realizing my mouth was still on the floor, I shut it, blushing a bit.

_THAT was embarrassing._

I just stared, and moved my mouth, no words coming out. This dude just patiently stared at me; even a little bit bored too! After I tried to say something, all I said was, "What?" Now, this guy had to nerve to just explode into laughter. Not a chuckle, or a little "Tee-hee" – no, it was a full blown, belly-aching LAUGH. His laughter rang through my ears – it reminded me of a grown man, but with a little trickle of 8 year old glee in it. I spotted my Red Baron's bat under my dresser. At least I spotted a weapon.

After he calmed down, he spoke at me again, "Sorry - this must be really awkward for you. You know, me just appearing out of nowhere and you witnessing all this." I just stared, but a simple '_you think?'_ floated across my mind. However, instead of a "Thanks, I must be going!" or something like that, this guy just said, "Well, I better introduce myself, and maybe you'll feel a little more comfortable."

Now, whoa whoa whoa! Insane skinny guy in a purple and pink jester costume with eyelashes Jeffree Star would be proud of, and missing body parts thinks that telling me his name is going to make me feel better? I was thinking his name was going to sound feminine and exotic, like Kayleesha or LaFawnda; something of that nature.

"I am called NiGHTS. I was once the Prince of darkness and nightmares, but well, now I'm not. You are?"

My head spun. NiGHTS was a stupid name, and especially for a guy! Now, he's also claiming he was once royalty! How do you become ex-royalty?! Isn't that something born in your blood? I pushed all that out of my mind and decided to just go with the flow. I still had my bat within reach, and I think that gave me some confidence.

"I'm Steph. I'm a teenager and I'm…" I tried to make myself sound impressive, "nearly 16."

His eyes narrowed and he cocked his head, looking at me with the weirdest look. I shifted a bit, crossing my legs a little. Baggy black jeans or not, if this guy was checking me out now, I'm lunging for that wooden bat. Seriously.

"Strange. I'm a little over 100 and I'm considered a teenager. You're only 15? In nightmaren years, you'd be just a toddler."

Now he's 100 years old. Will these lies ever stop coming?! What, what are nightmaren years?

"Um-" I started, "nightmare years?"

He nodded his head and replied, "Yes. In nightmaren years, I would be the teenager. You'd pretty much be a flailing newborn just sort of lawling around."

I felt a growl in my throat. If there's one thing I cannot stand is being called young in a negative sort of way. This guy was pushing it.

"But anyway. I better explain what it is I'm doing here first of all."

I shifted my weight towards the bat, just in case.

After he took a deep breath, (He has no neck! HOW DOES THIS WORK?!) he launched into a story, and by the way he was going on, I knew better than to interrupt and ask questions.

"First off, I am what you call a Nightmaren. We are from Nightopia, or the land of dreams as you may know it. In Nightopia, there are two dimensions split, and those are the Realm of good dreams, which is the real Nightopia, and then there is Nightmare, the land of the bad dreams. The ruler of Nightmare goes by the name of Wizeman the Wicked."

I really hate to say it, but I leaned in. This was like the beginning of a campfire story.

"Wizeman creates the nightmaren which roam Nightmare. He created me and all my siblings, but skipping the details that would make your dreamer head hurt, I guess you can say I was just born and that Wizeman was technically my father figure. Now, bear in mind that when I say sibling, I mean hundreds and thousands of us in all different sizes and all for different functions. I came later than most of my siblings, and I had a twin created at the same time as well, Reala. I was created to look innocent; to pull in the dreamers, then Reala would jump in and take care of them."

_Made sense since he looked like a fruitcake with fangs._

"Reala and I soared through the nightmare ranks till we both reached the first class, where we were pretty much on the right side of Wizeman, and doing very important tasks. Instead of horrifying dreamers, we were to rape them of all their Ideya-"

I opened my mouth to ask something…

"-which is the energy you always have and is responsible for you to dream. So, dream energy."

I shut my mouth, question answered. NiGHTS smirked a little mischievous smirk, and continued.

"Now, this whole Ideya stealing was fun, I totally admit it. There was something really funny about watching dreamers nearly wet themselves…" He stopped, that smirk still there and his eyes misting over in what seemed like relish from those memories. That bat was still looking good. He shook his head, blushed a bit, and got on with it.

"After a while though, I started to gain a sense of realization. What we were actually doing was keeping them from dreaming in color – even to keep them from dreaming anything ever again. I lived in the land of dreams, and I have seen some of the waking side from some of their minds, and I think that the dreamland is a place of sanctuary for you dreamers. I began to feel guilt; that was something I wasn't supposed to have."

"I started to slack on purpose, my brothers and sisters doing better than me in their duties. Instead of putting the dreamers and their Ideya in Jeopardy, I sat around and played with tiny Nightopians, or Pians, and learned to compress air within my hands to make something that sounded like a flute. I noticed that overtime, some of my nightmarish qualities, such as claws, began to disappear-"

"But you still have fangs!" I pointed out suddenly.

He smiled at me, making sure to show me just how razor sharp they actually were. "Yeah, well, I didn't loose all my devilish qualities."

"Why is that?"  
He just rolled his eyes. "You can take the 'maren out of Nightmare, but you cannot take the Nightmare out of a 'maren… well, not totally."

"Oh. Mmkay." I just shrugged it off. I didn't care; actually, I think fangs are pretty hardcore. "Sorry, please continue. I won't interrupt again, I promise!" I did that 'cross my heart' thing. So, he continued.

"Eventually, I stopped returning to Nightmare, and I stopped reporting to Wizeman. I would lure dreamers away from my previous cohorts, and keep them in a safe area. After a while, Wizeman started to send out Reala and all the other high-leveled maren after the defenseless dreamers. I started to rebel totally against Nightmare, defeating and making my brethren retreat. You see, Wizeman created me and Reala to have amazing flight abilities to complete our tasks, but I always thought my flying was better than his anyway."

Again, another little smirk from the jester.

"So, after a while, I decided to stand up against Wizeman and try to take him down myself to end this horrible rein of terror. I… failed."

He made a weird face for a brief second, and it sort of looked like embarrassment.

"He sentenced me to death, but he changed his mind at the last minute before he ripped my body into pieces and thought that if he figured out a way to make me suffer a fate worse than death that he would. Peering into my mind, something I cannot help as he did create me, he saw what I've become. He ordered to have me imprisoned into an Ideya palace, a place used for us maren to open up a portal to a different place when Ideya was put into each of the five holding pedestals. However, without Ideya, all it is is a prison with invisible walls."

"At least you had room to move around, right?" I know I said I wouldn't interrupt, but I had to know that he was okay. I was getting into this, mmkay?"

"Um… I'd say it was about as big as this closet here." He pointed at it. I gasped – My closet is small. I would DIE.

"Anyway," he continued, "I spent a lot of time trapped in that, and I would see my brethren torture dreamers, even some that I fought to protect once before, be destroyed and raped of their dreams and sanctuaries right before my eyes. It infuriated me, causing me to go mad, being trapped inside this building. I wanted to end my life, but Wizeman was smart, and gave me nothing but myself inside there, so I couldn't destroy myself. My siblings would come over and mock me, egging me on, causing me to grow even angrier than I've ever been before."

"One day, a few years after I was used to being in this predicament, I was just doing nothing, as I've done for a very long time now, when I heard a voice a little far off from where I was. There was a boy by the name of Elliot who had possessed the five Ideya. Now, before I continue, let me educate you on the meanings of them."

I nodded. _This would be awesome to write in a story someday._

"There are five different kinds. White represents Purity, while yellow is Hope. Blue is Intelligence and Green is Wisdom. Red, the rarest of all, is pure bravery and I'm sort of… attracted to it."

I had to interject, "Like a bug to a zapper?!"

He sort of re-adjusted himself on my bed, perhaps a little nervously. "Um, sure. Yeah."

"Cool." I shut up and listened again.

"Now, most dreamers have one, or two, and maybe three Ideya. Possessing all five, however, is something that hardly ever happens. So, anyway, I coaxed him over to me, and before he could help me, these lower-rank nightmare came out of nowhere and swarmed him, taking every Ideya he had and placing them in Ideya captures, waiting to be picked up by higher-level maren. I sighed, but the boy got closer to me. 'Do you need help?' he asked, seeming to understand I was in a prison. I nodded, and placed my hands on the invisible wall in front of him. He went to go do the same, and then what happened next was quite unexpected. He was dragged inside the palace – inside me! We became one, and thought with two minds. I became more than what Wizeman wanted me to be; I was almost real. I was then able to break the bonds of the palace and retrieve his dream energy with the boy's help."

"The same thing happened with a girl by the name of Claris, except I knew what to do this time. We restored all their Ideya and eventually, had to answer to Wizeman, as I did not go unnoticed. I was supposed to be entrapped and going mad, and there I was, able to soar around freely. Claris and Elliot were forced to watch me be imprisoned in a palace way beyond there reach where Wizeman promised he would deal with me after the dreamers. They were stuck in an alternant dimension of the city they lived in, Twin Seeds, both floating on opposite sides of this place on a tiny island. Wizeman, being himself, decided that it was time for them to never wake up, and blasted them off the islands to fall down into the void below them."

"They didn't give in though – since I helped save them, they were convinced they have to repay me, and learned to grow wings themselves and fly. They soared to my rescue and broke the barrier placed around the palace and they both rushed in to save me. Now, we were all transported to Wizeman himself, and I couldn't bear to see them suffer, so I fused with them at the same time. My power was split in two, so there was two of me flying around. Together, all three of us, we managed to take down Wizeman."

I threw my hands up, "Woo!!"

"Well, okay, so we thought. Apparently, he's not dead yet."

I put my hands back down. "Boo."

"There was a part of him that we didn't quite defeat and that part lived on. Being a Lord of sorts, he managed to rebuild himself and resurrect my strongest foes, and made them stronger than before. As I soared around, thinking I was truly free, I was attacked by my brother, Reala and forcefully taken to Wizeman. He was about to destroy me, my brothers laughing hysterically, especially Jackle, and I was about to cease to exist when I tried something only dreamers have done. I tried to wake myself up. Something must have happened, because the next thing I remember was seeing you."

He was silent for a few moments, obviously signaling he was done. I bit my bottom lip, trying to take in this crazy story I was just told. "I'm sorry," I started, "but I cannot believe any of this. It's too-"

"Bizarre?" He suggested, followed by a laugh. "Yeah, I don't blame you. Some of the things that happen to you dreamers, to me, is totally whacko. It'll sink in. You'll see, don't worry."

"Well, you're right though. You're no longer in…um…" I racked my brains.

"Nightopia?" Another suggestion flew by.

"yeah. There. You're in a city called Nanticoke in the middle of reality and that's it. Besides, I can't believe that, because if the beginning was true, I would have seen something like you in my dreams before and I most certainly have not."

He already had an answer. "Oh yes, you have. Have you ever had a nightmare before? One where your worst fears come to life and you wake up drenched in sweat or a scream?"

I thought. I have, indeed. "So what you're saying is that they were one of you?"

"I said before, Steph, we come in all shapes and sizes."

I nodded. I didn't want to believe this, I really didn't. I mean, how was I going to get rid of this guy? Say a simple, 'Well, the mental hospital is right down the street – I hear they're giving out ice cream!' and just let him go? No way. I decided to run with it though, "So, how do you get back to where you were?"

It was his turn to imitate a fish. He opened his mouth, thought and shut it. Then he finally responded with an, "I have NO idea."

I moved off my wall finally, and stretched a bit. "Well… what do you want to do now?"

He shrugged. "I obviously came to you for some reason, so I'll think that I'll just stay here."

I think a vein in my forehead popped. "WHAAAAAT!?" I think I beat his projecting voice, but he didn't even flinch. I breathed heavily, honestly being at a loss for words.

"You won't know I'm here, promise."

My head and the wall met each other violently for about five minutes.


	4. Can I Go Back to Bed Now?

_I was falling through darkness, my hands outstretched… as I neared the bottom of this icy pit, I felt no fear pump through my veins. Instead, I pressed my arms to my sides and purposely made myself go even faster… faster… faster… I hit the ground headfirst with a sick crunch, feeling my neck snap…I had trouble sleeping, almost as if I were being smothered… everything went black…  
_

THUD. I immediately jerked my eyes open, feeling my nose scream in pain. What the hell? Did I just fall out of bed!? With a groan, I picked myself back up, threw myself back into my bed and started drifting off to sleep again.

_This time, I was falling through the sky, falling with my hands at my side, rocketing towards the street below me where people were pointing. I felt my lips curl back in a sneer; I was going to die again. Cool. I was almost to the ground…  
_

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! This time, I awoke to a knocking sound, and not my still throbbing nose making out with my carpet. With yet another groan, I refused to open my eyes. I was still groggy, probably because of that sleeping pill I took before bed… now why couldn't I fall asleep again?

Huh, I don't remember. All I know is that I had one really messed up dream and two about falling. Oh, more knocking. Apparently, my mom thinks I'm ready to hop up and get to school. _Yea-no_. _Sorry, us teenagers? We don't function like that_. The knocking kept going and I was getting sick of hearing it. I got up, rubbed my eyes, and nearly passed out.

Knocking back at my mother was that pansy-man, NiGHTS. When my mother knocked, he replied with an exact copy of her knock, and he was smiling like a mad-man thinking this was all a game or something. Immediately, I hopped up and quickly ran over. If my mom got sick of this and opened my door, well, we were both screwed… mostly me.

Sneaky as a ninja, I got over there without making too much noise, and pretty much tackled him into my bookcase, covering his mouth with my hand. "Listen!" I hissed quietly, "Shut up for a second, or I'll have to practice my pimp-slap on your face! Got it?!" He looked confused. I flashed my angry eyes at him, leaned over backwards and opened the door, peeking out. Sure enough, there was my mom.

"Steph? What with all the thumping and knocking?" I froze for a second, and then quickly spat out, "I was playing with you, shifted my weight, lost my balance, hit my bookcase, stubbed my toe, muttered angrily and then opened the door." Hey! You want to make up a cover story in about ten seconds for your own mother!? It's not easy to do! I mean, she didn't really look convinced.

"Um, sure. Steph, just get ready, okay?" Her eyes narrowed a bit. I smiled my most winning smile. "Yes mom-AUUUUGGHHH!" Something warm and wet just pushed itself against the palm of my hand. My mother made the weirdest face back at me, as my face recovered from the wet shock. "Sorry. I, um-"

"Just get ready." My mom sort of backed off from me a little quicker than she really would have, and just went downstairs.

I shut my door, and turned to look at the freak that was doing something in his mouth with his tongue and making weird faces. It seems today is strange face day or something, but that wasn't important. What WAS important was that this creep just LICKED. MY. HAND. Not a little lick, I mean like a DOG KISS. HE** LICKED** IT. "What the bloody hell was THAT for!?" I snarled, releasing my grip on him and wiping the slime off on my PJ pants.

"You smelled sort of good, so I licked you. You taste salty though. That's nasty."

Argghhh! Now he wants to eat me!? DAMNIT. He's becoming less of a freak and more of a total pedophile! Apparently, he didn't want to be in the corner anymore; he pushed me off like an annoying bug, causing me to stumble into my dresser, back first. _SHIT. OW. DAMNIT. THAT HURT_. I turned to look at him, probably beat him senseless with that bat, only to see him on my bed all relaxed-like. THE NERVE.

"So…" He started, as if nothing just happened, "who was that playful dreamer?"

"That was my mother."

"Mother? Where did your other mother go?"

"What…?"

"The one with the funny hair on its face."

I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth. "That's my DAD. Like, um, Wiesman or whatever. Father?"

NiGHTS thought for a second and suddenly went, "Oooh! That's right! You dreamers have genders and stuff! Hah, sorry, forgot about that. By the way, you make noises that could probably rival Gillwing's when you sleep. What's up with that?"

"Oh. Was I snoring?"

"Is that what you call those noises that sound like Gulpo with stuffed gills?"

"Um… sure?"

"Yeah, you were pretty loud. I tried covering your face with a pillow, but then you started thrashing about and making weirder noises, so I just let you go."

I think I ripped out a chunk of my hair. He SMOTHERED me in my sleep!? Well, that explains part of the first dream! "Dude, that's NOT cool!" I shook, trying to keep my cool and so I didn't turn into something Satan would probably run from. "We need to BREATHE, and we can't do that if there's PILLOWS on our FACES."

"Breathing? It can't be that important. If I don't know what it is, then you don't have to worry about it."

I raked my fingers through my knotted hair. It's only five-thirty AM, and I can feel the migraines starting already. "Well, I'm going to go take a shower. Stay HERE, and don't touch anything!!" I hissed. I turned and pretty much stomped out of my room and headed down the hall to the bathroom.

I shut the door behind me, started the shower, stripped off my clothing and stepped into the nice and warm shower. I stood there for a moment, letting the water blast off scum and stuff before I grabbed an orange poof and squirted some body wash on it. I tried to make it fast, because if Twinkle-Toes got bored in my room, which he probably would, he'd venture downstairs and make my mother have a miscarriage without being pregnant, or worse -seeing where I've gone!

I washed my hair at super-sonic speed, shut the water off, hopped out and wrapped myself up in two towels. Now that I was clean, I could face my problems without looking like a scumbag. I was just about to get dressed when I realized something horrible – my clothes weren't in here! I never grabbed them! My mind raced, and now I honestly hoped NiGHTS when to go explore the house.

I opened the door a crack and peeked into the hallway. Besides the fact it was freezing out there, the coast was clear. Clinging the towels nice and close to my wet and nude body, I crept out of the bathroom… so far, so good! Without hesitating, I took off down the hall, hung a left and dashed through my bead curtain and stared around. Good, no pansy-man. I opened my underwear drawer and took out a fresh pair, along with a bra. Oh, please, like you never heard about girl's undergarments!

I slid my towels off and slipped my panties on and was about to hook my bra on when a tap on my shoulder from a velvety finger made me stop completely. Thank _**God**_ my bra was covering what needed to be covered and I just needed to clip it, but STILL! So, I stood there, pretty much nude with this guy behind me. _CREE-EPY_.

"So, you can change colors?" NiGHTS asked interestedly. I just stood there, my face as hot as an iron on high, and my temper was getting there as well. He continued, "What are you holding there? Ooh, is that a slingshot? Can I see it?"

I lost it. Covering my breasts with my arm, I turned around and went to hit him to suddenly realize that the bra I had just in my hand was gone. "EEP!" I quickly covered myself with my other arm and looked up to see that jerk-head stretching it back and letting go, having it make a 'thwoing!' noise. "HEY!" I cried out, partly pissed and partly embarrassed as all hell, "I NEED THAT! GIVE THAT BACK!"

"Steph?" I heard my mom call from downstairs, "What are you doing up there? Who are you yelling at?" I bit my lip quickly, then called back, "My cat stole my… um… my sock!"

Silence, then an "Oh, alright." From my mother told me that I just slipped right by that. While he was distracted, I quietly stomped over and ripped it from his hands, turned my back to him and finally got that bloody thing on. I turned back around, feeling a little better, but not by much, and said straight to his confused face, "You do NOT mess with women's underwear, alright?! I don't know if you have chicks where you come from, or if you even ARE one, but you do NOT touch the underwear. Got it?!"

He just cocked his head at me, "Why do you wear a slingshot?"

I gripped my head and growled. "It's called a bra. Women wear them to… um… look good."

He made a face. "Actually, that looks sort of stupid; I mean, aren't you cold?"

"Well, you put clothes OVER it, dumbass."

"Oh, well, I didn't know… dumbass?"

Okay Steph, breathe in… and out… in… and out… "Just drop it."

He blinked. "Drop? Drop what? I'm not holding anything."

I decided to give up. I turned my back on him again and opened my shirt drawer when a sudden snapping noise and a quick stinging sensation littered my back. With a quick intake of air, I just realized he snapped the bra strap. _OH NO HE DIDN'T._

"Sorry. I'm still trying to figure out why you guys wear these. I mean, they're like mini-torture devices!"

"No, it…" I decided I might as well tell him the truth. I turned and pointed at my chest. "Bras give support to your boobs. Girls have them." I pointed at the tiny ones I had as if to make a point. He pointed at his own chest, "Do I have boobs?"

I seriously pretended to look him over. "No, I think you're considered a guy and don't have boobs." I really needed to drop this conversation – it was killing my brain cells. "I need to finish getting dressed so give me a second."

I turned around and threw my hand in my drawer to grab something when a sharp pinch on my index finger made me yelp and jump backwards. Hanging off my now-bleeding finger was a hermit crab. Okay, so that's what it looked like anyway. It was a red and white colored shell thing with claws and eyes that stared right through my soul. I did a little dance, attempting to shake it off. So, yeah, there I was in my underwear at six in the morning dancing around waving my finger in the air trying to shake a mutant crab off my finger. Lovely way to start a morning, innit?

I felt a body against my back, "Oh, look, it seems you have a Kircle problem there, Steph." I looked upwards, suddenly feeling tiny and blinked, trying to hold back tears of pain. "Uh-" He seemed to get the idea that I honestly had no idea what it was. He took my hand gently, and carefully pried its tight little claw off my scarlet –colored finger and held it aloft by its shell. For good measure, he punched it right in-between the eyes. The thing sort of went cross-eyed and seemed dazed.

I started to suck on my finger. Dude, I needed to get that Neosporin out of my drawer. "So- " I asked him, still nursing my throbbing finger, "what are you gunna do with that… Kircle?" he looked around and his eyes rested on the window. "Can you open that up?" I nodded, and walked over, throwing up the multiple layers of screens and stood back. "If you throw it out though, it might attack someone else." NiGHTS didn't seem to care; in fact, all he did was swiftly move toward the window. "Hey, didn't you hear me? He might- ARRGHHH!"

NiGHTS literally dived head-first out my bedroom window! MY SECOND FLOOR BEDROOM WINDOW! I charged at the window and threw my head out, looking at the ground and gasped. Carnage! His mangled body on the ground, the Kircle feeding on his dead body!

Okay, no, that wasn't there, but I was expecting it to be. In fact, I saw nothing on the ground. No indent where he landed, no Kircle… I went to extend myself out further to see if maybe he went down the sidewalk, but a sudden burst of air nearly threw me up and out the window. I pulled myself back into my room, my hair now nearly dried due to the wind. I touched my hair with a light "wow…" out of the corner of my mouth, and then I started to remember what just happened.

"NiGHTS?!" I talked to my open window. I walked over to it again and slowly stuck my head out. "Hell- ARGGG!" A pair of grape eyes just appeared in front of my face with a cheery "Hello!" I stumbled backwards, ass-over-teakettle onto my floor, and felt pain shoot up my already-tender tailbone.

He looked at me, hands on the bottom of my windowpane, and that jerk had the nerve to giggle! HE GIGGLED AT ME, but I was too scared to be angered. "How the hell are you doing that!?" I think my eyes bugged out of my head; I'm surprised they weren't rolling on the floor already.

"What? Doing what?" He let go of my windowpane and shrugged, little cyan stars falling from his fingertips. Of course, I screamed and pushed myself up onto my feet to, I dunno, try to catch him if he fell, but he stayed put. "I don't know what you're walking about."

I stuttered, trying to find something to say to him, gave up, and ran over to my other window. Throwing away the curtains and the blinds and whipping up the other layers of window, I stuck my head out to look. There he was, just floating in air. No, I kid you not. Him. Just floating. Right there. Out my window. Midair. Just floating.

I pointed at him, feeling my bottom lip brush against my carpet, and my temper started to rise when he just giggled again, "You never saw anyone fly?" He pushed away from the window and did cart-wheels in midair and laughed a little bit. My anger slowly faded – seeing him like this, I honestly couldn't be angry at the guy. I seemed hypnotized, feeling a little sad. Then, as I realized that the sun was out and people could see him, I pointed at the other open window and mouthed the word, "in" at him. He seemed to understand and he gracefully spun through the window, landed in front of it, and grinned a most-winning smile.

My anger slowly came back, and I finally answered his question, "No. I never saw anyone fly. It's something us humans could… well, we can't do that." I sighed out of longing, and shook myself out of it. I had more pressing matters to attend to, like getting dressed. I walked over to my other dresser, bent down and grabbed that bat I was talking about, walked to the open drawer in the other dresser and cautiously put the bat inside. After hearing no claws-on-wood action, I took the bat out, replaced it with my hand and pulled out a shirt to wear.

After I got a pair of pants on and a shirt, I turned back to NiGHTS and crossed my arms. "Okay, so, besides the fact you can apparently FLY…" He scratched the middle of his face where a nose should have been, probably nervously, "Yeah, Sorry, I forgot that detail."

I nodded in agreement, "-What exactly was that thing? A Kircle? Why was it in my shirt drawer?" I was just curious; I would have gone apeshit if it was in my underwear drawer. "Oh-" he started, "That was a low ranking Nightmaren. It just clings onto your body and causes you pain while slowing you down a bit if you're flying. Since you were on to ground, all it did was cut your finger open."

Oh yeah. I forgot my finger was bleeding like a river. Thankfully, none of my bodily fluids got on my dark clothing as I dashed to the bathroom, washed it off, grabbed a band-aid and went back into my room. I grabbed that magical Neosporin tube and loaded the slash with nice and creamy soothing goop and looked at it. The cut didn't magically seal itself; wow. That was pretty ghetto. It worked on Clown-man. Damn. I put the band-aid on it nice and snuggly, and that was the end of that.

"So, what did you do with the Kircle?" I asked, seriously wondering about it. "I mean, is it on my roof?" NiGHTS shook his head, "I paralooped it." I stared at him. "You did what with a parasol?"

He made a weird circular hand motion with his two pointer fingers, "You know, paralooped." I kept staring. "No. I don't know." So this was as obvious as the blue sky to him apparently… well, I guess I'm not into the hip lingo of today. Fo' Shizzle.

"What I did was create a vortex around it and sucked it into another dimension where it was crushed to death and wiped out from either plane of the words. In other words, I killed it."

My eyes got bigger with my stare. _That was… dark_. I realized where that strong updraft of wind came from that dried my hair oh so nicely. Suddenly, I started to realize how screwy this morning was and I couldn't help but to start laughing. I just started and kept on going and before I knew it, NiGHTS was laughing his merry little laugh, but I think he just felt left out and wanted to be in on the laughing as well.

A call from my mother made me snap out of it. "Steph!! It's quarter to seven, let's go!" I gasped, realizing I didn't do my make-up yet. I dashed over to my mirror and started to apply it at the speed of light, trying to still make it look good. The interested maren watched as I applied concealer, eyeliner, all that girly stuff. When I was done, he smiled. "That's how I remembered you looked yesterday." I smiled, and then saw the clock. Gack!! I had to go, NOW!

I ripped on a pair of elbow-length black mesh gloves, my class ring, and cat collar, and was halfway out my room when I turned and pointed at NiGHTS. "Stay here till I get come from school!" He cocked his head at me like a confused dog, "What's school?"

"I'll tell you when I get back, I promise!!" With that, I dashed out of my room and nearly tripped down the stairs. Deciding today was a day that I was not going to straighten my hair, I grabbed a nearby hair tie off the colonnade and pulled it up into a pony-tail. "Mom! I'm ready to go!" I yelled, throwing on my trench coat (which was still wet and sort of disgusting looking) and threw on my book bag.

My mother came in and eyed my coat. "Did you fall or something?" I nodded quickly, "Yeah. Tripped on the way home. Forgot to wash it." I smiled a bit. She sighed, "And what was with the yelling upstairs?" I froze again, biting my lip. I needed a story and fast. "I opened the closet and I thought I was someone in there, but, uh, it was just the way my clothes were positioned and since I was half-awake… you know!"

She looked like she didn't really buy it, but she didn't pester me about it. So, beating off as much dirt as I could from my coat and quickly patting my cat on the head, I turned and walked out the door to mom's car. As I sat in the front seat and pulled out my iPod, I looked back at my house. I really hoped he stayed still, otherwise today was going to be interesting…


	5. It Officially Begins

The first two periods, History and Chemistry, dragged on like a snail frozen in molasses on the continent of Antarctica duct taped to an iron bar, connected to a heavy duty magnet. Ok, so, maybe not that slow considering the fact there aren't any snails in Antarctica, and if it was, it would dead, plus wouldn't the southern pole mess up the magnets pull and all that. I guess a lonely Eskimo could have found that slug, named it Squishy and brought it back as a pet and it ran away, but slowly like my classes…

The first two periods, History and Chemistry, dragged on like a snail frozen in molasses on the continent of Antarctica duct taped to an iron bar, connected to a heavy duty magnet. Trudging to the 'best' class ever, Biology, I poked my own friend Lexi in the hall, and rounded the corner into the classroom. Thrusting my books onto my desk, I spun around and landed in my seat, waiting for my cronies to arrive soon. Miss Justick was busing herself behind her desk, getting ready to start class. Finally, my friends came in one giant clustery cluster, sitting around me. Janelle was saying something about Jessica and her non-existent foot fetish, Cora started socializing with another friend, and me? I pulled out the homework I forgot to do and started to frantically scribble down answers.

'A spare ring of DNA inside bacteria is called-?' I froze, struggling to remember. After a few seconds of thinking, I gave up and wrote down 'Batman.'

_What?! She never looks at the answers! Who are you, the angel on my shoulder?! Like you never bullshitted homework at least once!_

Janelle spun around, flipped my book open to a certain page and made me stare at a creepy looking owl in our text book, demanding I looked at it. I gently pushed the book away, causing her to go into a "LOOKITTHEOWL" frenzy. So, I looked at it. Balance was restored, and that was that, as class began.

We were taking notes today. Joy. Mindlessly, I wrote down whatever Miss Justick wrote on her blackboard, which was really green by the way, and I started humming some songs, one of them being that '_Boom De Yadah!_' thing from Discovery Channel. The teacher stopped writing, turned and went to tell two guys in the back of the room to shut up when her phone rang. Immediately, she leapt over with her Justick-speed and picked up the phone. Normally, she's say a quick "yeah!" or "Mmhmm!" or "Right away!" and that was it, but she stayed on longer than normal. She took a quick look at us, and moved out of the room into the hallway, stretching out the cord.

We all stopped talking and goofing off, wondering what was so important. We leaned foreword in our desks to try and hear; Alex hopped up from his seat and snuck over, listening intently to what she was saying. For our normally loud classroom, we could have heard a pin drop. However, we did NOT want to hear a pin drop, but what Justick was saying. We finally were able to hear some bits and pieces of it-

"No, no one is out… I don't know any girls wearing … no one walked by….on the roof?! "

Alex turned to look at us with a confused face; we looked back with wide, inquisitive eyes. What on Earth was this about? Some chick on the school's roof?! I know it's Nanticoke, but Jesus! That's crazy, even for this place! We leaned back in to hear more-

"-wearing pink shoes? I never saw someone with pink shoes here-"

Brian sneezed. We all jumped, and totally missed the rest of what Miss Justick was saying. She came back in the phone, looking at Alex suspiciously as he pretended to throw something out in the waste bin and return to his seat. She continued on, as if nothing happened, but we couldn't focus. There was some chick on our rood and Miss Justick just acts as if it's all cool?! _HOW DID SHE EVEN GET UP THERE!? Our roofs are so high up, the only way you'd be able to get up is either a really big ladder! Or… to fly…_

It hit me.

I looked out the window to see cars stopped beyond the elementary school's playground; some people were even out of their cars and they were pointing at something, mouths wide open. I seemed to be the only one to notice this when I saw something that looked like a shimmering light gently float by the window… then another… and another…disintegrating one by one…

_GAHH! GOD DAMNIT!_

I turned around, thinking about what to do. I prodded Jessica, who immediately stopped texting and looked at me. "What?" I replied in a hushed voice, "I need to piss like a racehorse. Can you take notes for me?" Oh so reluctantly, she grabbed by notebook and pencil and started to take notes… the first time in about 3 months. I thrust my hand into the air with a mighty, "MISS JUSTIIIIIK!" She turned to look at me, with a sweet but weird, "Yes?"

"I need to empty my bladder."

"Well, good luck with that. Take the pass."

I hopped up, took the pass, and walked out of the room and made a sharp right and pressed myself against the wall. Waiting till I knew no one was watching the door, I casually walked past It, past Miss Marshalls room, and out into the staircase. I opened the door to the outside, sliding my sneaker off and placing it in-between the door and window so it wouldn't shut behind me, and walked out, making sure I wasn't in view of the windows.

"NiGHTS! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" I scream-whispered. Almost as if on cue, his fat head appeared from the roof with a smile and a "Hello!" I sort of made an angry caveman face and pointed right in front of me. "Get here right NOW!" He soared down, arms extended and landed perfectly before me. I had the urge to just nail him in the 'Ideya's' with my foot, but he could probably deliver a mean bitch-slap, so I didn't risk it.

"What are you DOING here!?' I seethed, glancing back to make sure no one saw me with this guy. He replied sincerely, "I got bored! There was nothing to do at your house! I decided to come to school, just like you!" I chewed at the inside of my mouth, trying to keep my temper under control and maybe a little too much… I tasted blood.

_Yum._

"Well, get out of here!" Now, this guy had the nerve to look SHOCKED, and point at himself with a meek little "Me?" I nodded violently, creepily enjoying the taste of my bodily fluids. "Well, alright…" He had a sad look in his eyes, and he slowly started to walk away.

I rolled my eyes, leaned foreword and cracked his ass like someone would to a horse to get it to move faster. He squealed and shot forward a couple feet, floating menacingly. "That hurt!" He whined at me. I made another face, and he finally got the signal to go right home. He darted off, a purple blur in the sky. I sort of watched him soar off, a sigh of longing escaping from my lips. I then realized I was standing out of the school building, longer than 10 minutes with one shoe off. I turned, snuck back in, put my shoe on, and darted back to class.

I walked in, and Miss Justik turned to me, one of her eyebrows raised. GOD, I HATE THAT. I can't do it, and it pisses me off that so many others can. Quickly, I whipped up a story, "I had to run to the nurse. Emergency. It was unavoidable." She nodded, understanding the female biological clock, and I returned to my seat. I started taking notes again, but my mind was racing. What if NiGHTS was caught by someone? What if he was dumb enough to land and ask what those camera-objects were?!

I was so lost in thought that the bell rang and I just sat there, writing the same sentence over and over till Jessica poked me. "Steph? The bell rang?" I snapped out of it, like I just received an electric shock, "Oh. Right. Okay. " Gathering my books, I stood up and walked out, a very confused Jessica following behind. I slowly drifted off to English class like I was trying to walk through a fog, only the fog was in my mind.

The day passed by and the next thing I finally noticed was that I was back at my locker, grabbing my homework and getting ready to leave. I pulled out my iPod, plugged myself up, dawned my cloak, and head off down the hall when I remembered I left stuff in French class. Damnit! I made a U-turn and ran back, finding Janelle and David harassing Mister Grisetto. As soon as he saw me walk in, he cried out, "Don't you ever go home!?" Madame Harbaugh, grading tests on her desk, snorted and smiled. We love picking on student teachers – Vince Grisetto was no exception.

After some picking on, we left. David offered me a ride home, but I couldn't chance him seeing NiGHTS being a retard and running to greet me like some possessed gay dog. "No thanks, I'll walk. I can try to burn off my thunder thighs." He smiled and turned, Janelle asking him about going for chicken wings later.

I decided to walk out one of the back doors, passing by the band room and auditorium. Everyone seemed to have left, except the sports teams – I heard the squeaking of sneakers in the gymnasium downstairs. I was just changing a song on my music player when it happened. I felt like my body was on fire, flesh melting from my face. I tried to scream out in pain, but nothing came out. I saw red flash before my eyes, slowly fading to black…

It all happened so fast that the next thing I knew, I was face down, my body twitching madly, pain surging through my limbs still. "What the flying-!?" I pulled my head up and saw that no one was around me. _God, the ONE TIME the halls are empty… _I was nearly up when a weird growl from my left made me pause completely. I slowly forced my hair to the left, moving my standing-on-end hair to the side and saw something that would have made me scream, but my voice wasn't working right now.

It looked like a little lion, only it had two paws, and saber fangs with a few red spike-looking things sticking out its back. Adrenaline pumped through me, and caused enough feeling for me to leap back from whatever this was. It snarled again, and put one of its clawed paws forward, a little jolt of was looked like lightning shot between its fur and teeth, though it looked really weak. This must be a Maren! I thought wildly to myself, because there's no Earthly animal like this here, but why was it here, and why did it only attack me?

Forcing myself, to my feet, telling my weak body to work, I saw the lion-thing take that paw he stuck out back, the volts of electricity slowly becoming brighter. "Do you have to re-charge?" I asked it stupidly, starting to feel like I had the upper hand. It seemed to understand though, and made a defensive sounding roar. Now seeing that I was many feet taller than it, I curled up my slowly un-numbing fingers, and flashed my oh-so-threatening teeth. "My turn, you creep!" I raised my bag, ready to beat the living daylights out of this thing when I saw at least three more of these lion things step out of the propped open locker room, along with a floating Kircle and a purple owl thing. I paused, mid-bag slaughter and swore I saw the lead yellow cat-thing smile.

Seeing I was horribly outnumbered, hurting, and mortal, I decided there was one thing to do. Thrusting my bag back on me, I darted to my right and ran down the hall to the back doors, hearing the padded thumping of clawed feet chasing after me, and the beating of wings. The padded stopped as soon as I reached the doors, and throwing them open, I glanced behind me, and finally let out a good shriek. All of them, lion things included, could fly, and they were nearly on top of me. I burst through the doors, hoping that they shut and blocked them. Lady Luck was really a bitch today, because they managed to swerve and get out. Everyone single one of them.

I ran down the back stairs, avoiding the metal hand rail purposely and starting running down a beasty hill. I felt a sharp stab-like grip on my shoulder, the same from this morning. I turned, seeing a Kircle attached to my shoulder, its other claw waving threateningly. I imitated NiGHTS and punched it between the eyes. It let go, but I felt my fingers crack as I did so – that shell was like punching concrete, and I'm pretty sure I broke my wrist. I was already in so much pain though that an added amount wasn't enough to stop me for running for my life. I heard the crackling of raw surging electricity and snapping of claws and beaks and knew I was done for. I was going to die right here, and I was still virgin! I wasn't supposed to die yet! I wasn't going to go out yet; I'd rather fight and die then just get beaten about like a pussy.

I turned to fight the other-worldly being when I landed on my ankle wrong, causing me to fall down backwards. I shut my eyes wincing; know that as soon as my back touched the ground, they would be upon me. I waited for the pain and a light to start shining, beckoning me to go toward it… but it never happened. In fact, I felt air slapping my face, my hair flying about. Is this what he feels like to die? It's a great feeling; maybe I should have just lain in the school hall.

I opened my eyes, only to find out that I was not, in fact, standing at the pearly gates of judgment, but flying through the streets of Nanticoke at the speed of what seemed like light. My lips were flapping, almost cartoon-like, and my eyes stung, but I forced them to stay open. How on Earth was I flying? I then felt something against my back, and I tried to look up. All I saw was a puffy white sleeve and a purple collar and I knew who had me. I don't know how he got there or where he came from, but I was damn glad NiGHTS found me. I finally turned my head to glimpse his face, and stared. His eyes were narrowed and in thinner slits than I've seen, and his lips were curled, revealing his pearly white fangs. Either he was really determined, or I weighed about the size of a gorilla. I hoped it wasn't the later one.

I saw houses zooming past me, and the pressure on my eyeballs caused them to tear up and stream like sprinklers. We went left, right, up, down, barrel rolls, loop-de-loops, and much more. Within what seemed like seconds, he came in for a landing on my front porch. He gently helped me find my footing, but that didn't matter. I fell onto my porch anyway, and just stared up at the ceiling. He sighed, bent over and picked me up like a baby, and took me into the house and upstairs, almost as if we just got married. He floated upstairs and laid me out on my bed, sitting next to me and just looking at me, almost with what seemed like concern filling his eyes. After a few minutes, I was able to sit up and remove my coat, but that was about it. I fell back on the bed, and coughed. I smelled like cooked bacon… I'm guessing it was because of that lion thing.

"Are you okay?" He asked me, cautiously taking me by the hand and helping me up into a sitting position. "Y-Yeah, I think so…" I barely squeezed out, officially finding my voice again. It was a very touching moment, but of course, he had to ruin it. "Well, that's good. You owe me."

I sighed, too beat up and battered to even make a snippy remark. "Well, let me know what it is someday, and I'll make it up to you." Honestly, I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but more pressing matters were pressing in on me. "So, NiGHTS, what happened back there?" I really wanted to know what happened; I practically played Doorbell-Ditch on Death's Front Porch and I don't think he appreciated it.

"Well Steph, you were attacked by what seems to be three Gao, a Hollow, and a Kircle." My brain fried for what seemed like the 3rd time today. "Okay, wait. The hermit crab looking one was a Kircle…" because I remembered the two encounters I had with them already. "- and the purple one was a Hollow?" I guessed. He nodded. Oh! Oh! Point for Stephy! "Then the lion thing must have been a Gao!" I said that almost too excitedly, and went into a coughing frenzy. I never knew being electrocuted would suck as much as it did. I suddenly felt bad for using a Pikachu when I was small in Pokémon battles on my Gameboy.

After my fit was done, something else floated across my mind. "Wait, how did you know I was in trouble? Did you just happen to know hanging out here?" NiGHTS seemed to look down at the bed, a little devilish smile on his face. "Well, I really didn't go home when you told me to…"

I looked at him, sorta looking pissed I guess. "What do you mean?"

"Well, no one was behind the school, and I was curious, so I poked around the school grounds a little…" I seized up immediately, "Were you seen?" Quickly he shook his head, "No. Not since you told me to go home." I sighed out of relief, and flopped back down on the bed. "So, those things, where are they?" I asked, afraid to hear that they were outside waiting for me or something.

"Oh. They're gone." NiGHTS said with a smirk. "When we were on the fourth run-around of the city, I paralooped some. Sorry; I didn't know if you could handle going upside down or not. I should have asked first, but, well, it was more important that your human stomach." My fried mind spun. "Wait, fourth run of the city?! Are you saying we went around the city four times?"

"Five, actually."

"Holy shit!" Sorry, it sort of slipped out. "How fast were we going!? You were only flying me around for seconds!" He shrugged. "I dunno. I never really kept track of my speed. Oh, and one more thing-" I looked at him, "Yes?"

"The next time you get into a fight with low ranking Nightmaren like that, please, punch or kick you way out. When you fight back, they tend to be wearier of you. So, you know, put them in their place. I can't be flying you around like that every single time you get into trouble. It seems you're in this war now, so you're going to have to fight back with me."

I winced, not wanting to go through a shocking ordeal like I did minutes ago. Ha-ha, shocking ordeal, did you see that pun there? Probably. However, the fact he mentioned I was now part of a war kept echoing through my head. "NiGHTS, why am I part of this?"

Shrugging, his response was, "I don't know." He then shut up, and looked at me, obviously seeing that I still wasn't in the best of conditions. "Go to sleep, you need it." He cooed, almost like a mother telling a little kid to take a nap. Happily, I followed suit, shutting my eyes. I only heard him say one more thing before I drifted off to a much needed nap…

"Sweet Nightmares."


	6. New Kid at School!

(Remember me? Remember this story? I bet you don't. Sorry for the long, huge… YEAR gap! OH GOSH. I'M SO SORRY. D8 I LOVE YOU GUYS. Anyway, in every story, there's a chapter or two that's a boring set-up chapter. This is one of them. Sorry!

Also, check out r profile for fanart of my story done by Latset on Da! It's pretty!

Now, go read boring exposition!)

* * *

The next morning, I woke up feeling sort of beat out of shape, probably due to be electrocuted the other day. "Meh…" I muttered to myself, thanking God that it was Saturday. I rolled over and stared at the clock which read twenty after nine, and I was about to drift back into thought when something hit me. Halloween was within two weeks and I never thought about a costume! I immediately sprung out of bed and ran to my closet, spewing stuff out all over my room trying to see what kind of clothes I can mutilate and shred to make a costume of some sort. Nothing seemed to be working.

Frustrated, I sat down on my bed and angrily ground my teeth together, trying to think of that everyone I knew was going as and what my options were. At that moment, I heard a knock on my window and I turned to let NiGHTS into the house. He gracefully soared through my window, landed and poked me square in the nose. "You slept like you were dead last night." I sighed, and nodded. "Yesterday was a mess, and I was all wiped out." With that, he leapt clear over my head and flopped onto my bed, making himself at home and all warm and snuggly.

I continued to dig through my closet, muttering some things to myself when I felt NiGHTS bump into me. I straighten up and turned to look at him. "What's up?" He looked like he was trying to figure something out. "What are you ferreting around in your giant clothes room for? You're already dressed."

"Oh, no, I know that." I said carelessly, pulling out what appeared to be a stinky sock.

_Ew. How long was that thing in there? … Shit, I think there's something growing on it._

"So, what are you dooooing?" He nagged.

"I am looking for something I can make a costume out of." I answered, tossing what may be a radioactive sock into my hamper.

"For what?"

"Halloween."

"… What?"

Gah! I forgot! He knows nothing! I straightened up, and acted like not knowing what Halloween was, was common among people in the U.S.A.

"Halloween is a time of year where kids and teenagers in denial dress up in costumes, go door to door yelling Trick or Treat! And then receive candy. It's pretty fun." He blinked and sort of smiled. "Candy?" I nodded. "Its sweet things that make you fat, but they're pretty good." He was silent for a moment, and then asked, "What are you going as for Halloween?" I answered, "No idea. I want to go as something bizarre this year, but I'm not sure wha-"I stopped, staring at NiGHTS, who just stared back.

I had an idea. An awesome idea. I had a crazy, awesome, WONDERUFL idea!

"I think I know, but it'll be a secret!" Before he could say anything, I opened up my door, dashed out the beaded curtain and ran down the stairs, jumping the last 5, only to find my mother. "We need to go to Jo-Anne Fabrics sometime soon."

After that day, I started to work on my costume. I drew a picture for my mom who sort of stared at it, shrugged and told me to stand still so she could take measurements. Every night before I went to bed, NiGHTS would constantly nag me, his curiosity getting worse each time I said, "It's a secret. You'll find out."

About a week before Halloween, I noticed that some of my favorite articles of clothing were missing. I thought they were in the laundry but after a few days, I declared them officially lost. However, I had no time to fret about that; my mother was ready to beat me. She sewed the hat I designed totally wrong, the horns on it facing upwards like a bull. "No, no, no! Mom, we gotta flip them!" She looked at me, and growled that mommy growl. Within a few hours, the hat was finished. Another day gone already.

I have had no run ins with maren lately which was really setting me on edge. I was attacked by a bunch out of nowhere, and then nothing. Oh well, that sucks for them. At least I was safe, and didn't get myself any deeper into debt with NiGHTS. I mean, I already owe him one favor for his amazingly right on cue rescue. I pushed the thought of debt out of my mind as I accidently burned and glued my two fingers together with the hot glue gun. "SON OF A FU-" I was cut off from my cursing as a smiling jerk face popped in front of me.

"Is that your costume!" NiGHTS piped, trying to snag it. Furiously, I dove out of his wiggling fingers, my own still burning and in pain.

"GIT! GIT!" I wailed, trying to make it to the sink, his determined, nagging, obnoxious-self following me. "STOPPIT, MY FINGERS ARE BURNING. GIT." I repeated, because, you know, that totally worked the first time. Eventually, he won as I ran cold water over my fingers and slowly and painfully pealed the glue off. He held up what looked like a long, narrow, spiky strip of yellow and purple felt stuck together.

"…" He said nothing, but looked at that, and then me, then back at that. He kept going, and then held it up, aimed at my chest.

_Oh no he's not._

"Steph! Is this the chest piece? It almost looks like it would fit! I mean, your chest isn't very large, so like, it would be perfect!"

If my fingers weren't in pain, I would have hit him. LEAVE ME AND MY SMALL TITTIES ALONE.

"It's not for my chest, you twit! It's for-" I stopped myself. If I admitted what it was, he would make the connection and my surprise would have been foiled.

"Oh. Well, it's obviously not for the pants part. It's too small – you wouldn't fit in it."

My fingers slipped, and I ripped the two stuck ones apart. It hurt, but I was totally distracted by the insult. "Excuse me, I don't believe I heard you correctly, Mr. Toothpick. Did you just say I have a big butt?"

"Um, no." He said, obviously sensing he said something wrong. "I'm just saying that you lower section is rather large and wouldn't fit. … What's a butt?"

I whipped the bar of soap at him and clocked him right in the forehead.

* * *

It was the day before Halloween and I sat in Miss Hyder's English class, finishing my vocab work. My friend, Brittany, sat next to me. She already finished a few minutes ago and was busily drawing her beautiful characters. I couldn't help but take a peek over. Her characters were based off the style of Inu-Yasha, but she totally went and made them her own. Realizing I was distracted and needed to finish this work, I quickly settled back to my work when there was a knock at the door.

Anthony, the kid closest to the door, got up and opened the door. Miss Hyder got up as well. "Tony! If that was a mass murderer on the other side of that door, you would have let him get in here and I would have been killed! At least peek at who it is first, so he gets first dibs on you." We all laughed – Miss Hyder was the man… technically speaking.

Our principle wandered in, accompanied by a boy. He was dressed in a black hoodie, black jeans, and not surprisingly, black shoes. His hair, however, caught my eye immediately. It was not black like the rest of his attire, but bright orange with different colored streaks running through it. He had no expression on his pale face, and just stared straight ahead at us. His eyes were wide, maybe from fear, and I couldn't help but notice how shockingly blue they were. They were almost a husky blue.

"Those are kickass contacts." I whispered to Brittany, who shook her head in agreement.

"Class, this is a new student we have." Our principle happily boomed. The boy just continued to stare. It was kind of creepin' me out now. "Why don't you tell us your name, son?" He said in his annoying 'I'M LIKE YOUR FATHER LOL' voice that all principles have. The kid was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth. Faintly, we heard a "Jack." escape.

"Jack what?" Miss Hyder asked, ready to add his name into her grade book.

"Jack-" The kid hesitated, as if unsure whether or not to release his last name. "Jack Tarot."

"Tarot? Like the cards that fortune tellers play with?" asked some kid who I knew by sight but not by name.

The new kid nodded. "My ancestors were gypsies, and they picked their own last name." Everyone just kind of went 'Ah. Okay.' and nodded. I blinked. Besides the fact the kid's voice seemed to change tone and get higher pitched and lower pitched with every few words, and crack, what he said confused me.

_That's odd. Why would a family of gypsies pick a name? I mean, why would they disregard their ancestors' name? And why pick a name that pretty much screams stereotype? _

The principle started talking again, and I was pulled back into reality. "Well, go find yourself a seat, boy, and Miss Hyder will get you set up." So, the Jack kid wandered towards an empty seat near a group of boys. Miss Hyder quickly cut him off. "Why don't you go sit back there, in front of Stephanie? These kids will do nothing but mess you up. They're trouble makers. Steph can get you caught up with work." The kids she was talking about booed and laughed as Jack shrugged and wandered back.

I waved my hand slightly, giving him an obvious hint of who I was. He plopped in the seat in front of me, and swiveled around. "Hi." His voice still seemed weird. Maybe that's just how it was.

"Hi." I said back. "My name is Steph, obviously, and this is my friend Brittany!" I indicated to her. Brittany kept her head down and sort of half-assed a wave at him. "Sorry, she doesn't talk around people she doesn't know a lot." Jack nodded.

"So, where did you come from anyway?" I asked, trying to make polite conversation. His eyes didn't meet mine when he answered, "the country." Poor guy, he's probably nervous as hell.

Miss Hyder jerked us out of conversation as she called Jack for the second time apparently. "Jack, would you mind coming up here and giving us an introduction? You know, now that the principle is gone and you don't have to talk in front of that annoying guy?" We all laughed. Miss Hyder, what a fiery red-head you are!

Within a few seconds, Jack was in front of the class. "Hi. My name is Jack. I'm 16." He stopped as if he was considering very carefully at what he was going to say next. "I like magic, and I'm practicing to become a magician." And with that, he sat back down. Everyone clapped considerately, expect for Ryan who mentioned something about his hair.

"Well Jack, I never would have guessed that magic would have been your thing!" I said brightly as he sat down. "What do you know?"

He seemed eager to speak, finally. "Oh, I'm working on disappearing acts and such, but I'm a beast with card tricks." He indicated to his pocket, where I saw a box of cards poking their way out of his jet jeans.

"Cool!" I said, genuinely interested. "You'll have to show me the tricks sometime!"

"I think I will." He agreed, finally smiling. And what a smile it was. It almost seemed to reach both of his ears. I couldn't help but smile back. He looked kinda stupid.

We chatted for a bit more, and the subject of Halloween rolled around. I told him to come with me and trick-or-treat tomorrow. He seemed very interested, mentioning something about not having friends yet, as he shuffled his cards mindlessly. I gave him my house address and phone number just as the bell rang.  
"I'll see you tomorrow, Jack!" I called, as he headed towards the door.

"I look forward to it." He answered, quickly ducking out the door. As I got up to leave, I noticed something on the floor. "Wha-?" It was the Ace of Spades, and in mighty fine condition. It was impossibly straight and unbent. I reached down and picked it up, my fingertips brushing the edges.

"OW!" I cried, dropping the card, and looked at the nice paper cut now across a few of my fingers. "Damnit." I bent down and picked up the card again and ran out into the hall. "Jack! I found-" but I stopped. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Goddamn he walks fast."


	7. Is This a Trick or a Treat!

I giggled like a dork as I donned my completed costume. My mother and I had literally finished making the sleeves roughly half an hour ago, and I stood admiring our work in the mirror. Sure, it was all made out of felt, but MAN, did we make felt our bitch in making this. I reached down, and fixed the purple tights that bunched around my knees, and darkly muttered. "How does he stand this…?"

I shrugged it off and crept into my room, pulling out any make-up I had and began to apply cover-up about 3 shades darker on my pale face, giving me a healthy tanned look. I was nearly done darkening my eyelashes, and accenting my eyes with liner when I heard a now familiar whooshing sound near my windows and a light thud.

"Steph, I just saw a bunch of kids down the street, and they're dressed-" NiGHTS stopped dead and I turned to meet him with a smile. He responded by slightly cocking his head to the right, his mouth contorted in a semi-jaw drop. Immediately, I threw my hands out, dropping my eyeliner pen into the dresser with a clatter.

"TAADAAAA!" I held that pose for a grand total of ten seconds before dropping my jazz hands to my sides. The confused maren pointed at himself, then me, then back at himself. "You… look like me." He finally said, his mind blown. I snorted, walking over to him and cuffing him on the shoulder. He didn't take his eyes off me, and leaned forward as if he were an official costume inspector.

"This is strange." He muttered, picking up my arm and poking at the white felt sleeve, as if it was going to jump up and bite his non-existent nose. "How did you make this?" He cocked his head the other way, now batting at one of the points on my hat like a cat.

"Very carefully." I oh-so-creatively replied. He continued to scrutinize my costume, and I waited for some sort of approval. He moved on from examining the vest to the purple tights (which I was totally rocking by the way), and he reached out a hand, pinching a bit of the material and tugging it. I wouldn't have minded if he did that on my legs, but he pretty much grabbed the material around a very personal region. "Whoa buddy!" I smacked his hand, and shot him a look.

NiGHTS quickly shot backwards, almost as if repelled. "Ouch! I was just looking!" He whined, crossing his arms in a defensive sort of way. I rolled my eyes at him, slightly sighing. "Last I knew, Mr. Prince o' Darkness, you look with your eyes, not your hands." He stuck his tongue out at me, and turned his head away, almost pouting.

Instantly, I felt quilted. "Okay, no, please, don't do that." I groaned. He remained steadfast, and I swear I even heard a little 'huff' thrown in. "Oh COMMON!" I wailed, feeling my shoulders droop. "This is almost as bad as when my cat begs for food! Stoppit!" He didn't even shift. "Stoppitsstoppitstoppit!" I felt like a little kid, but hey! If he could have a tantrum, then I can too! I opened my mouth to wail at him some more, but the next thing I knew, I was facing the ceiling, and he was straddling my hips. It took me three seconds to realize how awkward this situation was, but before I could say anything, he started to tickle. I immediately started to laugh, and I wiggled about, trying to find a way out of this predicament, but I was hindered by a scrawny jester sitting right on my center of gravity. "No faiiiirrrr!" I was quite the whiner today apparently.

Eventually, he stopped, and I was able to fully breathe again, the purple hat I wore sitting at a strange angle on my head. He silently floated off, seeming to 'lie' on the air, propping his head up on the back of his hands. His mouth was pulled back into a rather large and devilish looking smile, complimented nicely with those large sharp teeth of his.

_Wow. I never thought I could see a smile to rival the Cheshire Cat's._

I pushed myself into a sitting position, unintentionally getting myself closer to his face. "-And what have we learned, dreamer?" He asked, that smile remaining on his face. "… that I'm ticklish?" I asked, still red faced and smiling awkwardly. "Well, no." He snorted. "I was hoping something along the lines of, 'I'll stop hitting you, because I know that I will be punished cruelly if I do it again.'"

Oh God, an extreme tickle attack for every time I abuse him? I don't know if I could live with that. I nodded though, reaching up and fixing my hat. "You're kind of a jerk, so you know. I mean, you could have at least given me some warning." He swiveled onto his back, leaning his head down to keep looking at me with those wide eyes and smile. "Well, if you're expecting it, then it's no fun."

I rolled my eyes, reached up, and pushed him away by his shoulders, saying, "Fine, I get it, no more hitting!" He soared lazily across my room and stopped himself before hitting the dresser on the other side. "So, why are you dressed like me anyway?" He rolled himself over, placing his feet silently on my carpeted floor. "Is it that Halloween thing? I want in on this!"

"Um, okay. Um, um, um…" I looked around for something I could use. "Well, you could have just wandered out like that, but I mean, the no neck and wrists thing is extremely noticeable." I reeled through my mind, trying to figure out if I had something I could give him with a higher collar. " … I got nothin'." I sighed, defeated. "Unless you can figure out a way to blend in, you're just gunna have to not wander."

He blinked. "Blend in? You mean, as a human?" I looked at him. "Well, that's the general idea. I can't explain why I have this unworldly guy living on my roof, can I? I was under the impression that we weren't going to flaunt you off." I crossed my arms, pursing my lips.

"Well, if it's simple blending in, I can do that!" He exclaimed excitedly. With a simple wave of his hand, his body began to shift at once. It was extraordinary to watch, and even though it took only about three seconds, I was locked on to this strange sight. Within a second, I was looking at a human boy with longer blonde hair standing in my room. His ears were kind of pointed, and his nose was cute and small, but other than that, he was pretty good. I then realized he was totally naked.

'AUGH!" I averted my eyes, blushing madly. "WHAT THE HELL, WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES!" NiGHTS seemed to reply as if it were obvious. "Well, I can't fit into what I normally wear as this. The proportions are totally different." I still refused to look. "OKAY, WELL-" I started, my voice still louder than it should have been. "-We can't have you be a nudist for Halloween, so, um, we better do something."

"Well, what if I –WANT- to be a nudist?"

"Do you even know what that IS?"

"No, but it sounds fantastic!"

I sighed, working up my feminine courage to finally look back at him, making sure to keep my eyes above his stomach. "Well- Well, we're going to have to find you clothes now, I suppose." I blindly wandered past him to the drawers and opened my shorts drawer. "First off, you will put these on so I can actually see again." I blindly threw him a pair of navy blue booty shorts I use for sleeping at him, which landed oh-so-nicely on his face. "Wait, why?" he questioned.

"Because… because you're NUDE!" I cried out, making some sort of distressed hand signals at him. He pulled the shorts off his head and made some sort of face at them. "You don't wear these though." He pouted, tossing the shorts aside. "Where are the thingys you wear?" I gacked, face palming with one hand. "Only GIRLS wear panties. Guys wear boxers, mostly." He continued his pouting. "I want panties! Boxers look big and uncomfortable and stupid. Besides, yours are much more colorful!" My other hand covered the other side of my face. "Hurrr." I decided that sharing underwear was something I was not willing to do. "Absolutely not. Now put those on right now." I pointed at the shorts, and slunk over to my jeans drawer, looking for something he could wear.

"No." He responded, crossing his arms over his scrawny bare chest.

_Sweet candy coated JESUS was this guy stubborn. _

I whipped a pair of dark blue denim jeans at him that were too small for me. "Here!" I exclaimed, hoping I would sock him in the face again. Sadly, he was more aware of flying clothes and caught the pants with one hand.

_ Bummer._

He then proceeded to slide them on, still not wearing the shorts. "Whoa, wait! You just can't go commando! You –NEED- something under there!" I felt my face getting hot again. I didn't think I would ever have to argue with a guy to put his underpants on. Ever. NiGHTS proceeded to flat out ignore me and slid the pants up. For once, my longer and baggier jeans came in handy – they were long enough. They were extremely loose on him, but, hey, what are you gunna do? He sort of stopped, and blinked. "Did I do this right?" He asked.

Groaning and feeling my eyes roll up at the ceiling, I had no choice but to look. "Y-Yeah. You're good." I admitted. "Just fasten the pants and you're all- all good." And with that, I tore my eyes away from his midsection, knowing that I lost my eye's virginity to someone that doesn't even technically exist. Thankfully, he wasn't as stupid as he appeared to be and managed to figure out how to finish putting on the jeans. Meanwhile, while he figured all that out, I ran over to my closet and fished out a spare belt and handed it to him. "You're gunna need it."

He held it for a grand total of ten seconds before securing it around his head. At this point, I couldn't even tell if he was being serious or not. "No, around your hips, sweetie." I commented exasperatingly. He slid it off his head and put it around his hips and blinked at me. "Like this?" I snorted. "Close." And so, for about a solid awkward 30 seconds, I had to show him how to use a belt. After that whole crisis was over, I took a step back and looked at my 'model'. "Well, at least you're kind of decent now, I suppose…" He looked down and examined the baggy pants, lifting his left leg and shaking it, watching the pants flail around with his movements. "This feels strange." He commented, set his foot down and repeating the same motion with the other leg.

For good measure, I opened my shirt drawer, taking a good look inside in case any other 'maren decided to appear there, and searched for a shirt. He needed it longer, but not bigger. This was hard. I finally found a Kingdom Hearts shirt and deemed that good enough, though I eyed a pink shirt over in the corner and cackled softly.

_Naw, I'm not that mean._

"Here." I handed the shirt to him, which he put on backwards. After I fixed that mistake, I sat down on my bed. "Man, this is the strangest Halloween ever." I remarked. I took a chance and glanced over at the newly formed human boy in my room and couldn't help but smile. "You know, you kind of look like me." I commented. "I mean, you're skinnier and your hair is longer, but other than that…." He beamed at me with somewhat normal teeth, though I noticed his canines were still kind of sharp looking. "Maybe that could be your Halloween costume. You could go as me!"

His smile stayed there. "I could be a human! Cool!" He jumped a bit, and ended up sitting next to me on my bed. "When do we get to go out? I want to try this candy!" he swung his legs back and forth. "Whenever Jack gets here." I responded, yawning. He cocked his head. "Jack?"

"Yeah, he's some new kid at school. Poor guy seemed out of place and really seemed to need a friend. We have English class together, and that's about it. I don't see him anywhere else in the school." NGHTS blinked at me, which must have been the tenth time today. "English?"

Oh. Right. "Don't worry about it." I waved that off. "We need to find you shoes yet… oh god." I flopped backwards on the bed, the points on my hat going in random directions against the bed. "Anyway, he should be here at about 6-ish. In fact, what time is it?" I leaned over at my clock and stared.

_6:13? GAAAH! He's probably outside, standing all awkward and stuff!_

I shot off the bed, and ran into my dad's room and dug around in his closet. I pulled out a pair of black wintery boots. "Good enough." I dashed back into my room, NiGHTS just staring at me. "Right, so!" I threw a pair of my own socks at him. "Put those on, and then we'll put these on." He didn't seem to question me, and just slid the footwear on. "They're kinda tight." He commented, wrinkling his small nose. "Can you put up with it for a little bit?" I asked, looking at him. He nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so." After that was done, he pushed himself up, and starting floating toward the door.

"WOAH HEY! None of that!" I yanked him back by the shirt. "If you're gunna pretend to be a human, you gotta act like one. That means no floating, no flying, no… none of that stuff." He dropped his jaw in shock. "But-! But-!"

"No buts! Walk, mister!"

He landed, and clumsily took a step forward. "Wow, I'm not even human for more than an hour and I'm screwing up." He muttered darkly, trying to get a feel for this whole human way of transportation. I watched amused for a second till I remembered we had to be downstairs, and NOW.

"Okay, you're obviously in no condition to use the stairs at the moment. Here." I pushed myself in front of him. "Hop on my back, night-boy. You're getting a piggy back ride."

"A what now?"

"SHUT UP AND GIVE ME YOUR LEGS."

To his credit, he did try and give me his legs. At the same time. I heard a thud and looked back and saw him on the floor. "Ow."

"No. Not literal- FINE. Float down the stairs, but you're walking afterwards!" He seemed to leap straight to his feet and took off down the stairs, me following behind. As promised, he was standing in front of the door, waiting for me. My mom was watching TV, and thankfully, there was a wall jutting between the foyer and the chair she was in. I indicated to NiGHTS to stay put. "Mom, I'm going out!" I called, running into the kitchen to snatch some plastic bags."I'll be back!"

"Alright – if you get any Snickers, they're mine!" She laughed.

"Alright!" I opened the door and ushered NiGHTS outside, whom, for once, was quiet. As soon as the door was shut, I sighed out of relief. "Okay. So, NiGHTS is a strange name for humans. If anyone asks you, just for tonight, your name is now Matt."

"Matt? What kind of name is that? I thought Steph was weird."

"Well excuse me if I'm not named after a noun!"

"Yeah, well, I'm PROUD to be named after a noun!" he scoffed. "…What's a noun?"

"Just… stop. Let's go get candy."

He seemed to be more enthusiastic about collecting candy. "Well, let's go!" He hopped off the porch enthusiastically, only to stop and stare toward my sidewalk. He stepped down the stairs, the horns on my hat bobbling. "What's wron-" I was cut off quite suddenly as my arm was grabbed and 'Matt' threw me behind him. "What are you doing?" I hissed, peeking out from behind him to look at the sidewalk.

There was a kid in a large black cape and top hat, wearing an orange cat-eye mask and white gloves. One single strand of obnoxious colored hair told me that it was Jack, waiting for me as expected. What I didn't expect though, was the look of intense hatred on his face. Was he looking at me? No. He seemed to be looking right at NiGHTS. I glanced up at the 'maren in front of me only to notice he was returning the same look. The silence between them hung heavily, and I swear there was a staring contest going on.

Finally, something happened. Jack swiftly turned, and ran. NiGHTS didn't move, but I did. I pushed the 6 foot wall in front of me to the side, and I ran down my sidewalk. "Jack! Wait! What's going on?" I called. Almost instantly, I was tugged back into NiGHTS' chest. "Don't you DARE go after him." He snarled. I jerked my head back a bit – I never heard him sound so commanding and angered before. "Why-why not?" I choked out, still trying to understand what's going on.

"I have a bad feeling about him." He sharply responded, still holding me in a somewhat protective hold. "He's alright!" I assured him, but one look from the 'maren told me that I was not going to win this argument. I sighed, and felt bad. Did Jack get shy? What was with the face they were both pulling at one another? I desperately wanted to chance after the poor kid and explain to him that 'Matt' was just a protective friend or something, but with the hold 'Matt' had on me, it was obvious I wasn't going anywhere.

"Can… can we at least go get candy?" I asked nervously. The almost-scary demeanor of my captor faded, and I could see his more pleasant side returning. "I don't see why not. But if he comes near us, we're getting out of there, got it?" I nodded, still unsure what was going on. I took a couple steps forward until NiGHTS finally let go of me. "Well, common! We got a lot of houses to hit then!" I opened the gate and leapt out, trying to get all joyful once again. NIGHTS slowly followed, still wobbling slightly. I held out a hand to help him figure out the step-up out of my yard onto the sidewalk… and I gently lead him down that sidewalk, holding his hand like some sort of mother teaching a toddler to walk. When he was finally doing good, I let go. He took a couple steps before stumbling and falling into me. "GACK!" I managed to keep my balance and catch him.

"Watch where you're going, you dork!" I helped him back onto his own two clumsy feet, reached up, and flick his nose hard. "We're not gunna get anywhere if you keep stumbling like you're drunk!" he recoiled at the nose flick. "HEY! I said no more abuse! You just earned yourself more misery when we get back!"

_Oh no, I could already feel my stomach and sides fall numb._


End file.
